How to form an LLC in South Dakota (2026)

What are the steps to form an LLC in South Dakota?

The first four steps below happen once, with the South Dakota Secretary of State, and the last repeats every year for as long as the LLC exists. Each step carries its form name and state fee.

1. Check that your LLC name is available with the South Dakota Secretary of State. You can reserve a name for $25.
2. Name a registered agent in South Dakota: a person or company with a South Dakota address who accepts legal papers for the LLC.
3. File the Articles of Organization with the South Dakota Secretary of State. The state fee is $150 online, $165 by paper. Filing methods: Online (SOS Enterprise) or by mail on a paper form (paper adds a $15 fee).
4. Wait for approval: Online filings processed immediately; paper filings on average 1 to 3 business days. Faster options: $50 expedite fee (completion sooner than the normal course of business on request).
5. Recurring filing: Annual Report (due the 1st day of the anniversary month of the original filing), fee $55 online, $70 by paper.

The biggest choice in that list is the filing method. South Dakota charges more for paper: a filing that could have gone in online picks up a surcharge, so paper adds a $15 fee. The online route is also the one the state processes right away. If you would rather hand the filing to a formation service, the South Dakota LLC services ranking totals each one's first-year cost here, state fee included.²

The second choice is the agent, which goes into the Articles themselves. South Dakota's LLC statute says the Articles must include the information required by § 59-11-6, the section on registered agents, so the agent has to be settled before you file. The agent section below explains the options.⁴

How do you check and reserve a South Dakota LLC name?

Search the South Dakota Secretary of State's business records for your name first. If it is free but you aren't ready to file, a name reservation costs $25.¹

How long a reservation lasts is a gap in the record. The fee schedule lists the $25 price but no reservation period, so ask the South Dakota Secretary of State before you count on a hold through a long planning stretch. For most founders who are ready to file, reserving adds a fee and a step without much gain, since an online filing is processed the same day.¹

Who can be the registered agent for a South Dakota LLC?

South Dakota follows the Model Registered Agents Act, so the Articles name the agent in one of three ways under SDCL § 59-11-6. The LLC can name a commercial registered agent, give the name and address of the entity's noncommercial registered agent, or give the title of an office in the entity.⁴

A registered agent is the person or business that accepts lawsuits and official state notices for the LLC. An owner who serves personally is a noncommercial agent, and so is a friend or relative. The office-title option names a position in the company rather than a person.

The address rule is short. A noncommercial agent needs an actual street address or rural route box number in this state, plus a mailing address in this state, if different. A rural route box counts in South Dakota, but a mailing address alone does not.⁴

Whatever address you give goes into the Articles of Organization. If you would rather not list your own, the LLC can name a commercial registered agent instead. Northwest Registered Agent sells its agent service at $125 per year, and Inc Authority includes one free for the first year with its formation, then charges $249/year. The list of plans with a registered agent included compares the rest, and the registered agent guide covers what the role involves.^{5, 6}

How do you file the Articles of Organization, and how fast is it?

You file the Articles of Organization online through SOS Enterprise or on a paper form by mail. The state says online filings are processed immediately, and paper filings average 1-3 business days.²

The paper route is simple: the forms page instruction reads "Print the form and mail it." Paper costs $165 instead of $150, and it waits in the queue.^{1, 2}

The expedite fee

The South Dakota Secretary of State lists a $50 expedite fee, defined as completion sooner than the normal course of business. Two details limit its use. The fee sits under Miscellaneous Business Fees rather than in the LLC section, and the state doesn't publish how much sooner an expedited filing is finished. With online filings already processed immediately, a founder filing online has little to speed up.¹

A formation service runs on its own clock. Its stated processing time covers preparing and submitting your filing, and in South Dakota that may be the longest part of the wait if the state processes the filing online right away. The LLC timeline guide separates the provider's time from the state's, and the fastest services list compares stated times.

What does a South Dakota LLC cost in its first and second years?

In year one, a South Dakota LLC costs the $150 online filing fee, or $165 on paper, plus any service plan. In year two the state charges the annual report fee, $55 online, and South Dakota levies no franchise tax on LLCs.¹

Because the yearly state cost is a fixed fee, the state's part of the second-year column needs no guesswork. One plan figure does: doola bills yearly, but its terms leave the next rate open (renewal price not stated), so its second year repeats today's price. Each row adds the state fees to the plan we compare for that provider, in the order of our rating (how we rate explains it).⁷

First year: state filing fee plus the provider's compared plan. Second year: the recurring state fee plus the plan's renewal, if it renews.

Totals are our arithmetic on the published figures. Registered agent renewals are extra unless a plan includes the agent. Try other plans in the calculator.

The spread comes from how plans bill. Inc Authority charges nothing for its Free LLC plan, so its totals are $150 and then $55, the state fees alone. The table leaves out its registered agent, which is free for the first year and then renews at $249/year. Tailor Brands Elite bills every year, so it comes to $399 and then $304. That plan lists mandatory report filing among its items, though its plan page doesn't name South Dakota's report.^{6, 8}

For other mixes of plan, paper filing or expedite, the LLC cost calculator works it out. The lowest first-year totals and the national LLC cost guide show how South Dakota compares.

What does a South Dakota LLC file after it is formed?

A South Dakota LLC files an Annual Report with the South Dakota Secretary of State every year, due by the 1st day of the anniversary month of the original filing. It costs $55 online or $70 on paper.^{1, 3}

The due date moves with the company. An LLC formed in, say, the spring files each spring, not on a single statewide date. Put the month in a calendar the day the Articles are approved.

The report lists the names and addresses of the LLC's principal officers and directors (governors).⁹

Late reports and losing good standing

Missing the date has a cost. Once a report is 2 months past due, the state adds a $55 late fee. The state warns that continued delinquency can lead to administrative dissolution, and state law allows it for unpaid fees/taxes/penalties or for an annual report not delivered within 60 days of its due date.^{2, 10}

Reinstatement after dissolution costs $150 plus delinquent annual reports and fees. The South Dakota Secretary of State also requires an approved Tax Clearance Certificate from the SD Department of Revenue, and the application must be mailed rather than filed online.¹

Who can file the report for you

Some formation plans include the filing and some sell it separately. ZenBusiness lists state-required annual reports on its Pro and Premium plans. Northwest Registered Agent enrolls its agent customers in its annual report service automatically, at $100 plus state fees, charged at filing. The annual report guide and the package contents guide explain which plans file the report and which only send reminders.^{11, 12}

Taxes

South Dakota levies no corporate income tax, and the Department of Revenue's business tax page shows that the only franchise tax listed is the bank franchise tax. Sales tax and federal tax are separate questions for an accountant. The EIN guide explains how to get the federal tax ID most LLCs use for banking and hiring.¹³

How do you change a South Dakota registered agent?

You change the agent by filing a Statement of Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent or Both with the South Dakota Secretary of State, and the fee is $10. Can also be filed online.^{1, 14}

Paper costs more here too, since the same paper surcharge applies. File the change before cancelling an old agent service so the record never shows a gap.

An agent can also resign. The resignation takes effect on the earlier of the 31st day after filing or appointment of a new agent, and the agent must promptly notify the LLC of the filing date. Naming a new agent ends that waiting period at once.¹⁵

A missing agent is not among South Dakota's grounds for administrative dissolution, which are limited to unpaid fees/taxes/penalties and an annual report not delivered within 60 days of its due date. The Articles still have to name an agent, and a change of agent is the filing that keeps the record current.¹⁰

What if your LLC was formed in another state?

An LLC formed elsewhere registers in South Dakota with a Foreign Certificate of Authority, which costs $750 online or $765 on paper. The fee schedule doesn't list what that application asks for, so read the form itself before filing.¹

That registration costs far more than the $150 online fee for a new South Dakota LLC. Whether to register an existing company or form a new one depends on where the business operates, which is a question for an accountant or lawyer. The foreign LLC guide covers the choice, and the state fees table compares neighbors such as North Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming.¹